


The Lowly Fox and the Lord of the Black Pearl

by wargoddess



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Ending, Animalistic, First Time, Knotting, M/M, Rough Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-16
Updated: 2012-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-29 15:54:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/321596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wargoddess/pseuds/wargoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On his own after the end of the manga, Shippou has -- to his shame -- grown up to be a rather pathetic fox.  This offends Sesshoumaru.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lowly Fox and the Lord of the Black Pearl

**Author's Note:**

> This was written many years ago -- don't honestly remember when -- before the Band of Seven arc of the manga, so it completely veers off from canon there and posits an entirely different end for the series. Back when I first wrote it, I posted it in several IY fan communities. If it looks familiar, congratulations! You've got a great memory.

     "You are without a doubt the worst fox I have ever seen," a familiar voice said from behind Shippou.

     Spitting out mud and trying to clear his eyes, Shippou pushed himself up from the half-dry streambed and twisted around to get the measure of this new tormentor.  A tall figure stood fastidiously on a dry rock, little more than a silhouette backlit by the torches from the village.  A human!  Shippou tried to scramble to his feet but lost his purchase in the slick mud and fell again.

     "If I'd meant to kill you," the voice said, "you would be twenty times dead, fox."

     Managing to sink claws into a stone beneath the mud, Shippou finally pulled himself from the thickest mud and onto more stable ground.  Though his muscles ached with exhaustion and hunger-weakness, he pulled up his legs and gathered himself into a crouch, ready to flee if his unseen companion attacked.

     "You have the advantage of me, sir," he said, attempting dignity but slurring his words as he spat out a leaf.  "You know my nature, but I don't know yours.  Are you a youkai come to kill me?  A human seeking the same?  All the world loves fox-blood these days, it seems."

     "All the world loves _youkai_ -blood," the figure agreed, unfurling what looked like a fur cloak to wave behind him in the breeze.  "So few of us remain that the humans grow bold, thinking us easy prey.  Of course, the fact that some of us _are_ emboldens them further."

     Definitely a youkai, and an arrogant one.  Shippou squinted, cursing the unnatural torchlight from the human village that half-blinded his night vision.  That sense of familiarity grew by the second, but he still could not place the voice or form.  It was hard to smell anything through the mud, but he caught a whiff of the stranger's scent:  the ethereal musk of a youkai, overlaid by a complex mingling of evergreen, northern wind, and winter ice.  Familiar, somehow.

     "I am no warrior, sir."  Shivering from the wet mud and the autumn night-chill, Shippou tried to keep annoyance out of his voice.  Without knowing who he faced, it was best to play things diplomatically.  "Merely a hungry fox looking for dinner.  You must forgive me if my weakness offends your eyes."

     "Not weakness, incompetence.  I see you cannot even manage to steal a chicken from a henhouse without alerting the entire village.  How came you to be such a poor thief, fox?  Did my brother Inuyasha teach you nothing before he went to the future with his woman?"

     _My brother Inuyasha...  Oh Inari protect me..._   Terror shot through Shippou.  Only the knowledge that the shadowed figure would catch him before he got three paces kept him from trying to run.  "Lord Sesshoumaru."  He spoke with careful respect, inclining his head.  "It has been some time, has it not?  Ten years since I fought at your side against the creature called Naraku."

     "Ten years since you cowered behind my brother and cast child's tricks at that monstrosity, yes," Sesshoumaru said.  "And you clearly have made no good use of the time since.  Answer my question."

     Shippou was not in fox-form and thus his ears could not flatten, but they heated with anger nevertheless.  "No, your brother did not teach me anything," he said, clenching his fists in the mud.  "If he had offered, I would have refused to learn from a mere half-youkai.  In any case he didn't offer.  What difference does it make?"

     "The difference between a full belly and an empty one, apparently.  But it pleases me to hear that you at least have the pride of a full-blooded youkai, if not the skill.  Such pride is hard to come by in these dark days."

     The words threw Shippou; first insults, now compliments?  But then he tensed as Sesshoumaru's silhouette moved, flicking the fur drape back around itself and leaping over the streambed.  Shippou scrambled around to face him as Sesshoumaru landed lightly on another rock.  This time the moonlight's direction favored viewing.  In spite of the mud, his hunger, and the cold, a wry smile crossed Shippou's face.

     "You haven't changed at all, Lord Sesshoumaru," he said, for it was true.  Though the balance of nature had shifted and the time of youkai was all but over, one would never know it by Sesshoumaru's airs.  He was as elegant and haughty as ever.

     " _You_ have changed a great deal, fox," Sesshoumaru replied.  "You were but a kit the last time I saw you.  Now --"  He paused, his eyes raking Shippou's sorry appearance.  "Are you even a fox?  It is difficult to tell under all the mud."

     Shippou kept himself from snarling out a challenge by a narrow margin.  "Was there something you wanted, Lord Sesshoumaru?  Surely a youkai of your stature has more important things to do."

     A faint, cool smile.  "I find you entertaining, fox.  I have been in dire need of entertainment lately, with Inuyasha gone."

     "Happy to oblige," Shippou muttered.  He kicked a clod of mud off one toe, bowed respectfully, and began to back away.  "Well, if you are satisfied, my lord, I'll take my leave now."

     He did not see Sesshoumaru move.  He simply blinked and Sesshoumaru was there, plate armor two inches from his nose, and an instant later long striped fingers took hold of Shippou's chin in a grip that was almost -- but not quite -- gentle.  Shippou froze, his heart pounding as he remembered the corrosive poison in those fingers.  Then the hand forced his chin up so that his eyes met gleaming golden ones.

     "I did not give you permission to leave, fox," Sesshoumaru said, very softly.  "Perhaps I am hungry myself.  You seem to have forgotten that dogs eat foxes on occasion."

     Shippou's eyes widened.  Surely he would not -- but then, trying to predict the behavior of a youkai like Sesshoumaru was always a mistake.  Better, he thought desperately, to talk fast.

     "There must be many things in the forest which taste better than me, Lord Sesshoumaru," he said, and to his great relief his voice did not quaver.  "I have lived on nothing but mice and acorns for months; I'm sure to be bitter.  But the chickens in that village were very plump and have been fed only on sweet grass and grain.  A superb hunter such as yourself could take them easily, where my meager skills were inadequate to the task."

     Something that might have been amusement flickered in Sesshoumaru's eyes.  "It would seem you are not a complete disgrace to your kind, fox."  Sesshoumaru fell silent then, turning Shippou's face from one side to the other; his gaze grew speculative.  "You do not look as though you've starved for ten years."

     "I lived for a time with Miroku and Sango -- the monk and the youkai-hunter who once travelled with Inuyasha," Shippou replied, certain that Sesshoumaru could hear the pounding of his heart.  Not that Sesshoumaru needed to hear his fear when Shippou's scent reeked of it.  "When I reached the age of adulthood, I decided that it was time I made my own way in the world."

     "I see.  Raised by humans; no wonder your fox skills are so poor.  How many winters have you?"

     "S-sixteen."  Inwardly Shippou cursed at the stammer.  It was never wise to show weakness before a predator.

     "So you have been on your own for three years.  You must have had some success, or you'd not have survived this long.  Though I suspect that owes more to the complacency of humans than any ability on your part."

     Anger overtook fear, and Shippou jerked himself away from Sesshoumaru's hand, dancing back a few steps.  "My father taught me all that I needed to know," he snapped, "and I will not stay here and listen while you insult his memory, dog!"  He threw an acorn on the ground and conjured an illusion of fog, praying it would distract Sesshoumaru while he leapt up the nearest tree to escape.

     A hand closed on the base of his tail, tugging sharply.  The pain made him scream and he nearly fell off the branch.  When he recovered enough to turn his watering eyes backward, Sesshoumaru crouched calmly behind him.

     "Will you let me _go_?" Shippou cried.

     "Perhaps," Sesshoumaru said.  He eased his grip on Shippou's tail, letting the muddy mass of it slide through his hand, then took hold again of the very tip.

     Swallowing back fear and indignation, Shippou carefully maneuvered to face Sesshoumaru.  "What is it that you want?"

     "I told you.  Amusement.  In exchange, I am willing to offer you training in the skills you will need to survive in this world."  A faint, ironic smile crossed Sesshoumaru's lips.  "I offer this out of respect for your father, whatever you might think.  My own father always spoke well of the noble kitsune race.  It pains me to see one of that kind brought so low."

     Suspicious, Shippou crouched lower on the branch, gathering himself.  He would not mind losing a bit of tail-fur if it came down to that, though his chances of escape were slim.  "I don't need your help."

     "Oh?"  With his thumbclaw, Sesshoumaru flicked a muddy twig out of Shippou's tail-fur.  Shippou felt his ears heat again.

     "I've been doing fine on my own!  I'm alive, aren't I?"

     "But you have not been doing _well,_ " Sesshoumaru replied.  "You ate and dressed -- and smelled -- better when you were a kit clinging to my halfbreed brother's leg.  Would you not prefer to live well again?  Or does grubbing in the mud and eating acorns satisfy you?  Surely your father would be disappointed to see you now."

     The words stung.  More than stung; hurt.  To Shippou's horror, he felt tears welling in his eyes.  Turning his face away he said, "It isn't my fault.  I don't know where the other foxes have gone, or even if there are any left.  I would have apprenticed myself to one of them if I could have.  I've tried to remember my father's lessons, but... but..."

     He trailed off, momentarily overcome with grief and shame.  Sesshoumaru regarded him in silence.  Perhaps he was disgusted by Shippou's display of emotion.  So was Shippou, though he was more disgusted by the fact that everything Sesshoumaru said was true.

     Then to his surprise, Sesshoumaru released his tail.  "The choice is yours," the youkai-lord said, rising gracefully.  He blurred and then was on the ground below the branch, not deigning to look up at Shippou.  "I will not make the offer again."  He turned and walked away.

     Shippou stared after him, trembling in the aftermath of fear and misery, willing his heart to cease its useless aching.  _Father..._   They had never once gone hungry, Shippou recalled -- not once in the six winters they had been together.  His father truly would grieve to see Shippou living so wretchedly now.

     His stomach rumbled, and that settled the matter.

     Praying that he was not doing something extremely foolish -- and knowing in his heart that he was -- Shippou dropped down from the branch and trotted after Sesshoumaru in silence.

***

     They walked for several hours, following no path that Shippou could discern, changing directions in ways that made no sense, crossing and following two streams.  After a time, it occurred to Shippou that Sesshoumaru was going nowhere in particular -- just trying to leave a confusing trail in case of pursuers.  Why a youkai of his power cared about pursuers at all, Shippou did not dare ask.

     Finally Sesshoumaru said, "Here," and stopped in a small clearing.  Reaching up to pluck something from the sash around his waist, he held up his palm.  In it lay a small black pearl.

     Shippou caught his breath.  "That's --"  He had never seen it himself, but Kagome had told the story of the pearl that contained the tomb of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father.

     "Yes," Sesshoumaru said.  "Inuyasha gave it to me before he left, as it was of no further use to him.  Now come."  The pearl glowed and a swirling portal appeared in midair.  Sesshoumaru walked into this, and after a moment's hesitation Shippou followed.

     When he emerged in the alternate realm contained within the gem, he stood on the neatly-raked sand of a sprawling, stately manor -- but this did not draw Shippou's gape-mouthed gasp of awe.  That he reserved for the sitting skeleton of Sesshoumaru's father, which towered over the landscape from a few miles away, its head barely visible in the distant clouds.  A flock of spirit-vultures flew through its skull as Shippou watched.

     "My father created this dimension in his final years," Sesshoumaru said, going into the house.  Shippou stopped gaping at the skeleton and followed him inside.  "I have claimed it as part of my realm, now."

     Shippou nodded mutely, looking around.  Inside, the manor was beautiful, sparsely but tastefully decorated.  Padding feet caught his attention and he whirled, crouching defensively.  But it was only the old salamander-youkai who served Sesshoumaru.

     "My lord Sesshoumaru.  I'm delighted to see you home.  And you have a guest?"

     "You remember Shippou, Jaken," Sesshoumaru said.  "He once travelled with my brother."

     Jaken's eyes widened.  "The fox-child?  But why --"  He caught himself.  "Of course, my lord."  He looked Shippou up and down, his disdain obvious.  "I'll run a bath for your guest."  Shippou felt the few clean patches on his tail fluff with anger. 

     "Please do," Sesshoumaru said, and when Shippou turned to glare at him Sesshoumaru added, "After he has bathed, see that he is fed and install him in the room near the garden.  Perhaps sleeping near flowers will sweeten his scent."

     "You --"  Shippou bared his teeth and clenched his fists, though he knew it was pointless.

     "I," Sesshoumaru said, "am going to rest.  Report to me in the morning to begin your training."

     He flowed out of the room, leaving Shippou alone with Jaken, who could barely stifle his snickers.

     But Jaken said nothing as he led Shippou to the bathchamber, set down a tray of toiletries, and left.  With a sigh of annoyance Shippou peeled off his clothing and sat down to scrub.  It took some time to get the mud and brambles out of his fur, but eventually he succeeded and soaked away his aches in the tub.  The smell of food roused him out of a doze, so he left the tub and donned the yukata that Jaken had apparently left for him, then followed his nose to a small room in the house.  A thick futon was there, its duvet and sheets turned back.  A set of sliding doors on the opposite side of the room had been drawn open to offer a marvelous moonlit view of the manor's atrium garden.

     _Perhaps this won't be so bad after all,_ he thought to himself, and flopped on the floor to begin stuffing himself with the contents of a heavily-laden tray that sat nearby.  The food was delicious, too.  He hadn't eaten so well since he'd left Sango and Miroku.

     What would they say, he wondered suddenly, if they heard he'd made a bargain with Sesshoumaru?

     _Be careful,_ whispered Sango's voice in his mind, and with that he curled up in the warm, deliciously-soft futon for an uneasy night's sleep.

***

     The next morning Shippou stood before Sesshoumaru, trying not to squirm as the youkai lord looked him up and down.  Still stinging from the previous night's insults, Shippou had taken pains with his appearance that morning.  There had been a set of clothes beside his futon when he woke -- a pale blue shirt with a motif of autumn leaves, a vest of rich rust-colored cloth, and a hakama of eggshell.  He had to admit that they looked good on him, so he'd dressed, combed the red gold mass of his hair into its usual topknot, and even scrubbed his teeth and claws with a damp cloth so they would shine.

     "Better," Sesshoumaru said at last.  "And your smell is almost acceptable today."  He turned his attention back to the table before him, where he knelt writing something on a scroll with a brush.  The tip of his fluff curled 'round his body to hold his trailing sleeve aside.  The left sleeve of Sesshoumaru's yukata hung empty, as he had lost an arm to Inuyasha some years before. 

     "I did try," Shippou replied through his teeth.  "I have a question, Lord Sesshoumaru."

     "Speak."

     "You said this was a bargain between us.  My side of the bargain is to entertain you.  How may I do so?"

     "I expect the process of training will be sufficiently entertaining for some time."  Sesshoumaru did not look up to see Shippou's tail fluff to twice its normal bottlebrush thickness.  "After that, improvise."

     "Fine," Shippou said, folding his arms.  "Then what is to be the first lesson?"

     "Can you write?"

     "Of course."

     "And you are familiar with basic spellcasting."

     "I know the principles."  Shippou hunched a bit.  "My father taught me a few spells -- illusions, foxfire and the like."

     "Kit's play.  Your kind are natural magicians; you are capable of far more.  We shall begin with elemental magic and work our way up from there."

     Shippou frowned.  "I thought..."

     "Yes?"

     "I thought you were going to teach me simple things.  Like... I don't know.  How to hunt."

     Sesshoumaru's eyes half-lidded, which Shippou realized was his version of a smile.  "Oh, I intend to teach you that too.  And how to fight, and how to behave in the company of your equals, and how to comport yourself with grace and style.  I shall teach you everything but thievery, as that is beneath me."

     "But..."

     "The world has changed, fox.  Have you not seen that for yourself?  Naraku absorbed all but the most powerful and fortunate youkai in his mad drive to grow stronger, and they all died with him.  The humans will gain in numbers and strength now that they no longer fear the night or the powers of nature.  No more will you be able to survive by stealing chickens and playing tricks on farmers.  You must learn subtlety.  Sophistication.  Only with these skills can you thrive among humans and youkai alike.  Now come here."

     Startled, Shippou edged over to the table.  A piece of paper, inkstone, and brushes sat ready for him -- on Sesshoumaru's side of the table.  Far too close to Sesshoumaru for Shippou's comfort.  He moved to a perpendicular side instead.

     "Here, I said.  I cannot observe your writing form sideways."  Sesshoumaru indicated a cushion beside him.

     Resigning himself, Shippou moved to kneel beside Sesshoumaru, carefully keeping any part of himself from touching the other youkai lest Sesshoumaru take offense.  Abruptly nervous, Shippou took up the brush and then paused.  "What shall I write?"

     "Your name will do."  Sesshoumaru paused.  "Your full name, and not the simplified version you give to humans."

     Shippou glanced up at him, considering, because names were power.  But he had already placed himself in Sesshoumaru's hands; what difference did it make if he humbled himself further? So he turned to the paper and wrote in careful characters, _Seven Treasures Hidden in the Moondark Forest._

     "Hmm," Sesshoumaru said.  "Not entirely appropriate, unless your treasures are hidden in mud.  But perhaps with training we can polish them properly.  Here is my name."  With swift strokes he wrote _Cycles of Destruction and Rebirth Unto Heaven_ on his paper.

     His father dreamed high, Shippou thought sourly.

     "Now compare."  He pushed his paper so that it lay beside Shippou's.  The contrast was obvious; Shippou's characters scrawled unevenly, barely legible where Sesshoumaru's were elegant and precise.  "If yours were a spell, it would likely fail.  The magic is in you, not the words -- but the words are what shape the magic, and so you must write them well.  Let your thoughts flow through your hands, and the words will come as they should.  Like so." 

     He took Shippou's hand and guided it over the paper, redrawing the first character of Shippou's name.  The brush moved over the paper like water, smooth and sure.  So fascinated was Shippou by this that he only belatedly realized that Sesshoumaru's hand held his, and that Sesshoumaru had shifted closer in the process.  When Sesshoumaru's breath tickled the sharp tip of his ear, he stifled a gasp -- and his hand jerked in Sesshoumaru's, irrevocably marring the final stroke of the character.

     Sesshoumaru sighed, sending another warm breath into Shippou's hair.  "Undisciplined."

     "Forgive me," Shippou snapped, forgetting courtesy for a moment.  "I'm just not used to having someone breathe down my neck."

     Sesshoumaru glanced sidelong at him, unperturbed by his discourtesy.  "You will grow more accustomed to my nearness and touch with time."

     Suspicion shot through Shippou like quicksilver.  "What do you mean?"

     "You are a fox.  Carnality is as natural to you as magic and mischief.  Naturally, to help you survive, we must refine that trait as well."

     "Refine...?"  Shippou blurted the word, then felt faint when he realized what he'd said -- and revealed.  Sesshoumaru's eyebrows rose. 

     "Then you are wholly unpracticed in pleasure?  I'd assumed you were too young at the time of your father's death, naturally, but you have been old enough to mate for several years now."

     Shippou hunched his shoulders in defensiveness and shame.  "I had no time for frivolities."

     "I see."  Sesshoumaru sighed.  "Well, we can discuss that later.  Now write your name again, and this time you must _focus._ "

     Trying not to let his hand shake, Shippou resumed.  The exercise was intensive enough under Sesshoumaru's watchful eye to take his mind off the implications of the earlier conversation, though never for long.  It took him ten tries to write his name to Sesshoumaru's satisfaction, and then they began writing the characters of the elements -- the core of any elemental spell.  Shippou flubbed "fire" three times before sharp teeth nipped his ear, hard enough to bring tears to his eyes.  He yelped and hunched in instinctive submission; only then did Sesshoumaru release his ear.

     "If you make no effort to learn, our deal is pointless.  I can have Jaken take you to the portal now if that is your wish."

     "No --"  Shippou blurted the word, then wondered if he'd gone mad, then realized that he meant it.  He was a fox out of a long and noble lineage, possibly the last of his kind.  He had made a bargain; upholding it meant that for a time he would gain food and clothing, shelter, and a warm bed.  What did it matter that he would have to share that bed to earn it?  In the end he would have the most important treasures of all:  knowledge, and his dignity.

     Marshalling what he could of that dignity, he drew himself up.  "I would not renege on a bargain, Lord Sesshoumaru.  That is not the fox way."

     Sesshoumaru lifted an eyebrow.  "A trickster with honor?"

     Shippou scowled and bared his teeth.  "We foxes repay our debts," he said, flicking his tail in annoyance.  "Call that honor or whatever you like.  All it means is that I'll keep my word as long as you do the same."

     Sesshoumaru's eyes half-lidded again.  "We shall see, fox.  We shall see."

***

     After that, Shippou's training began in earnest.

     Sesshoumaru drilled him in spellwriting for the rest of the morning.  They paused for a light lunch of fish, rice, and pickles, which Jaken served them in the anteroom.  Shippou wolfed the food as was his usual habit, until he caught Sesshoumaru's look of disgust from across the table.  That led to a silent lesson as Shippou struggled to emulate Sesshoumaru's graceful table manners.  After lunch came a lesson that Shippou hadn't expected at all:  music.  He could sing of course; all foxes had sweet voices.  But Sesshoumaru declared that any fool could caterwaul and introduced him to the koto, a stringed instrument that would take him a human lifetime to master.  When Shippou complained of this, Sesshoumaru simply looked at him.  Shippou sat through the rest of the lesson without protest.

     They had afternoon tea.  After that, Sesshoumaru led him into the atrium and handed him a long birchwood staff.  Shippou stared down at it, then at Sesshoumaru.  "Foxes are better at fleeing than fighting, my lord."

     "Even foxes are sometimes cornered," Sesshoumaru said, taking up another staff.  He moved to stand opposite Shippou, his hair and tail and left sleeve flowing in the afternoon breeze.  "Claws and teeth may serve in an emergency, but that is no excuse to avoid the use of weapons and strategy.  As you saw from Inuyasha's many battles, brute force is not always enough."

     "But..."  Shippou looked at the staff, then toward Sesshoumaru's waist, where the dark sword Tokijin and the lifesword Tenseiga normally rested against one hip.  Here in his home, Sesshoumaru had set both aside.

     "Do you have a sword?"

     Shippou flushed.  "No."

     "Then the staff it is."  And with that, they began.

     Some time later, when Shippou was on the verge of exhaustion, Sesshoumaru glanced at the sun and finally called a halt.  They'd spent barely an hour on the simple katas of the staff, and then gone right to sparring.  To his own surprise, Shippou had absorbed the basics quickly.  Sesshoumaru proved to be just as deadly-swift and skilled with the staff as with his sword, and even with only one arm he had practically chased Shippou around the atrium.  It had taken all Shippou's wit to keep his teacher from beating him into one great awful bruise.

     He had quite a few lesser bruises, however, so he nearly wept with relief when Sesshoumaru said, "Enough.  You may take dinner in your quarters if you wish.  Be certain that you bathe thoroughly tonight."

     Sesshoumaru had turned away, heading out of the garden; he did not see Shippou's flinch as understanding struck home.

     Nevertheless, Shippou went to his room.  Jaken brought him a light meal.  Though the aromas were savory and the presentation beautiful, Shippou shuddered at the sight of the food and turned away, queasy.

     Jaken's face went carefully neutral.  "The food does not please you, Master Shippou?"

     "The food is fine," Shippou replied.  He sat, drew up his knees, and wrapped his bushy tail primly around himself.  "Please forgive me.  My appetite is not what it should be."

     The old servant regarded him for a long moment, thoughtful.  "Shall I inform Lord Sesshoumaru that you are ill?"

     Shippou chuckled bitterly.  "After all my impassioned talk of repaying my debts?  No, Jaken.  I must endure the night to come. "

     Jaken bristled.  "A night spent with Lord Sesshoumaru is an honor, fox."

     "Oh, I'm aware of the honor.  And I know I could do worse for my f -- "  He blushed.  "I could do worse.  Your lord is very fine to look upon.  But..."  He sighed, then darted a look at Jaken, deciding to risk a question.  "Does he take many lovers?"

     "That is not for the likes of me to say, or the likes of you to know."

     Shippou sighed.  "Is he at least gentle?  How did he treat that human girl who travelled with you for a time?  What happened to her, anyhow?"

     To his surprise, Jaken's face grew solemn.  "Lord Sesshoumaru would never have taken Rin; she was human.  And in any case, she died long before she reached an appropriate age for such things.  Naraku attacked Lord Sesshoumaru a few weeks before the final battle.  Rin threw herself in front of a strike from Naraku, thinking to save our master.  Not that the blow would ever have landed, but..."  He sighed.  "Well, she was an ignorant human.  Her intentions were noble."

     "But..."  Shippou frowned.  "Did not Sesshoumaru have the Tenseiga to bring her back to life?"

     "The Tenseiga can perform its magic only if flesh remains.  Naraku consumed her wholly."

     "Inari save us."  Then Shippou gasped.  "Is that why --"  He trailed off, thoughts racing.  At the climax of the war against Naraku ten years before, an unlikely alliance had formed:  all Naraku's victims, detractors, and even some of his former allies.  Despite so many strong and clever warriors on their side, the losses had been terrible -- Myouga the flea; Kouga of the wolf-youkai; the gentle halfbreed Jinenji and his youkai sire; Naraku's own daughter, Kagura; Sango's brother Kohaku.  Even the survivors had not escaped unscathed, for Miroku had been forced to cut off his wind-tunnel hand in a desperate bid to save Sango.  Inuyasha had sacrificed his youkai blood -- becoming fully human -- to break Naraku's power and give Kikyou the chance to destroy the Shikon Jewel, taking herself and Naraku with it.

     And now Shippou knew why Sesshoumaru had joined them to fight at Inuyasha's side.

     "Eat," Jaken said finally, and there was grudging kindness in his tone.  "You will need your strength."

***

     Sesshoumaru summoned him several hours later, just as a crescent moon peaked in the night sky.  Jaken led him through the dim, silent corridors of the house and up its stairs to the master bedroom.  This was a large chamber whose floors were lined with fresh, fragrant tatami and whose walls were painted in classic style with depictions of The Wild Hunt.  Outer doors opened onto a narrow balcony and provided a view of the atrium, and beyond it the landscape.  The bones of Sesshoumaru's father were a distant shadow against the nightlit clouds. 

     Sesshoumaru himself knelt in a pool of moonlight before the balcony doors, wearing a trailing yukata of deepest blue.  Behind him lay a large futon, its duvet turned back on both sides.  The whole chamber smelled of the fresh clear ice of a mountain river -- Sesshoumaru's distinctive scent.

     When Jaken left, Shippou waited nervously in silence, shifting from foot to foot.  After a moment Sesshoumaru said, "I have given this matter some thought.  The education of a fox is a matter best left to foxes.  The similarities between our kinds allow some crossover, but not in all things.  The art of mating may well be such a thing."

     Relief surged through Shippou's heart -- though not as much of it as he'd expected.  He frowned to himself, but could not deny that on some level, he was disappointed as well. 

     "Then how am I to fulfill my end of the bargain with you?" Shippou asked.  Sesshoumaru glanced back at Shippou over his shoulder, frowning.

     "Do you imagine that I, Sesshoumaru, could be entertained by something so crude?  You are a virgin, completely unskilled in the techniques of satisfying a lover.  You smell of fear, not desire.  What pleasure could there possibly be in this exercise for me?"

     It had never occurred to him that Sesshoumaru might not want him.  The knowledge made his mind reel and his tail flatten in shame.  He got down on his knees and bent to the floor, touching his forehead to the mats.  "Forgive me, Lord Sesshoumaru.  I have lived among humans so long that I assumed..."

     "I know."  Sesshoumaru turned back to the moonlight.  "And with a lesser youkai that would not be an incorrect assumption."  He sighed.  "In any case, undress and kneel upon the futon.  We can get this over with quickly, and then you may rest."

     Shippou started, lifting his head.  "Over with?"  Then, as comprehension dawned, "But you said --"

     "I cannot teach you the _art_ of mating," Sesshoumaru said, "nor can I give you pleasure of it at present.  But as I have promised to teach you the skills of survival, I have a duty to at least prepare you for the physical and mental rigors of the exercise.  Little good it will do you to survive famine and war only to have your body or spirit wounded by a careless partner."

     His heart pounding, Shippou swallowed and went over to the futon.  He undressed hesitantly, unsure if there was some etiquette to the act, unsure of everything but his own fear.  When he knelt naked, trying to keep his tail from flicking in nervous spasms, Sesshoumaru rose in a fluid movement and moved around the futon.  He passed behind Shippou and stopped there, his presence radiating against Shippou's back like a sun.  "Present yourself."

     Trembling, Shippou bent forward and lifted his hips, though his tail pressed flat against his nether regions.  He almost yipped in terror when Sesshoumaru's hand touched his skin.  Light fingers drew a line from the middle of Shippou's back to the base of his tail.  Gasping in uncontrollable reflex, Shippou lifted his hips higher and flicked his tail up over his back, leaving himself bare and vulnerable.

     "You understand that there will be pain."  Sesshoumaru's voice seemed to come from some other realm, near and yet far, disembodied.  The hand that had been on his back slid around and down, resting on his backside and spreading him wide.  Something else slid under him, supporting him -- Sesshoumaru's floating ruff of fur.

     "I, I know." 

     _I will not weep,_ he resolved.  He would give Sesshoumaru no more proof of weakness with which to taunt him.  He was a kitsune full-grown, and he would do his race proud. 

     "Virginity, like ignorance, is a burden," Sesshoumaru said.  "To grow, we must be rid of it."

     And then a great sharp fang bit into Shippou, sinking deep and burning like fire as it clove through his flesh.  He cried out and bit into his own hand to stifle the sound.  His other hand clenched, claws leaving rents in the fabric of Sesshoumaru's futon -- but he did not weep.  Later when he lay whimpering in his own bed, arms and tail wrapped tightly around himself, he would take comfort in that fact.  But in that moment he could not think beyond the pain.

     "Ten," Sesshoumaru said through the ringing in Shippou's ears.  Shippou had no chance to puzzle over this cryptic word because Sesshoumaru pulled back and drove the fang into him again and he tasted blood where he had bitten his hand.  Then the pain came again, and again.  The urge to scream rose in Shippou's throat; he shut his eyes.  Again.  Again.  If he pleaded, Sesshoumaru might stop this.  Again.  If he offered... what?  What?  Again.  Again.  Again.  What could he possibly offer to uphold his end of the bargain and leave this hellish place?

     Again.  And then the terrible biting pain ceased.

     Shippou came out of the haze to find that the fang had withdrawn, leaving what felt like a raw bleeding wound in his nether regions.  Warm liquid ran down his inner thigh.  _Please Honored Inari, let it be blood and not urine or I shall die of shame._   Sesshoumaru's hand pushed at his hip and he sagged, boneless.  He did not want to open his eyes.  Sesshoumaru's tail eased him down onto his side.

     "Know that I have been careful with you in spite of everything," he heard through the dull fiery throb from behind.  Something came to rest on the side of his face, warm but with sharp points; Sesshoumaru's hand.  "A mating performed against your will would have been far worse.  Remember the pain you feel now and let it serve as a warning:  choose your lovers carefully and never allow yourself to be captured in battle."  The hand caressed his cheek, and the next words were spoken so gently that Shippou was certain he imagined them.  "You have done well."

     Then Sesshoumaru raised his voice to call Jaken.  Shippou was sponged clean fore and aft and helped to sit up on his knees, then given herb tea laced with a faint bitterness.  Jaken helped him walk slowly back to his room and lie down on his belly.  A few moments later he fell asleep.

***

     In the morning the lessons continued.  Sesshoumaru lamented that Shippou's writing would ever look better than chicken scratchings, and glowered at his clumsy table manners throughout the noonday meal.  In the afternoon Shippou plucked too hard and broke a string on the koto and had to endure Sesshoumaru's acid remarks about pearls before swine for the rest of the day. 

     As evening approached Shippou grew pensive, dreading the coming night.  He was still very sore.  But Sesshoumaru gave him no special instruction to bathe as their staff lesson ended.  "Rest well," was all the lord said.  Sesshoumaru had gone easier on him with the staff, too, if Shippou wasn't imagining things; he had far fewer bruises today.  So in relief Shippou bathed and ate and slept deeply from sunset to dawn, too weary even to go out and play in the moonlight as was his wont.

     And so his education continued.  On the third night -- just when Shippou had healed enough to relieve himself without discomfort -- Sesshoumaru summoned him for a night-lesson again.  Shippou went into the room with great trepidation, but Sesshoumaru informed him that the night's lesson would be easier than the first had been.  "My intention then was to teach you about pain," Sesshoumaru said, still gazing out at the moonlit bones of his father.  Perhaps he meditated to the sight every night.  "Tonight I shall prepare you somewhat."  Then he commanded Shippou to strip and kneel on the futon again.  The preparation that Sesshoumaru spoke of turned out to be first his lapping tongue -- the strangest sensation Shippou had ever experienced, though not unpleasant -- and then a flask of oil, which he applied liberally before mounting Shippou again.  Shippou had braced himself for pain, but it was nowhere near as bad as before.  Just some burning and the most peculiar sensation of being stretched.  "Twenty," Sesshoumaru said, and this time Shippou counted the strokes.  Sesshoumaru stopped precisely at twenty, withdrew, used a nearby folded cloth to clean Shippou and then another for himself, and then dismissed Shippou to bed.  Shippou was only a little sore the next morning.  Two nights later Sesshoumaru summoned him again for thirty strokes, and by the time they reached fifty Sesshoumaru was mounting him practically every night.

     Time flowed strangely in the dimension of the black pearl.  Days passed, never growing shorter or longer; weeks passed, feeling more like months.  Shippou's writing improved, and soon Sesshoumaru permitted him to begin writing and casting whole spells.  He was especially good with fire.  Shippou's instincts told him that the season was autumn, deepening toward winter, though the weather within Sesshoumaru's magical realm never changed.  His tailfur thickened anyhow and his hair became streaked with white for better camouflage.  The urge to hunt and fatten himself became strong, so in the evenings after Sesshoumaru dismissed him, either before or after the night-lesson, Shippou shifted to fox-form and hunted through the alien forest.  Shadowy creatures -- like rabbits, but black-furred and vicious -- teased and tormented him, and for many nights he caught only mice.  But then Sesshoumaru began to join him on his hunts, flowing silently beside him in human form.  They never spoke while hunting, but by watching Sesshoumaru Shippou learned to stalk properly, and to find hidden game-trails, and to kill with a single swift bite.  He caught more rabbits after that, and grew sleek.

     Shippou's other lessons were going well, too, except one.  For though Sesshoumaru summoned him nearly every night, and though Shippou could eventually bear several hundred strokes without pain, there was no pleasure in it for him.  Neither did his host seem to find the exercise enjoyable; Shippou's nose wasn't as sensitive as a dog's, but Sesshoumaru never smelled of desire before the mounting, or repletion after.  And as time passed and Shippou made progress in every area except this one -- raw endurance did not feel like progress to him -- this began to annoy him mightily.

***

     He went to Sesshoumaru one night, unsummoned.  The youkai-lord clearly had not been expecting him; when Shippou received permission and slid open the door, Sesshoumaru reclined casually on his futon, using the tip of his tail to turn an old scroll. 

     "We have no lesson tonight, fox," Sesshoumaru said, not looking up from the scroll when Shippou knelt before him and bowed politely.  "The effort required to rid the world of ignorance is taxing; even the most dedicated teacher needs relief from time to time."

     Shippou did not bristle.  He had learned much in the past few weeks, not the least of which was self-control.  Instead he bowed again.  "I have come to ask a favor, Lord Sesshoumaru.  You have been kind enough to prepare me for the physical rigors of mating.  And yet --"

     "You desire more."  Sesshoumaru's golden eyes lifted to regard him coolly.  "I have told you why I will do no such thing, fox."

     "Naraku may very well have devoured every fox in the land," Shippou replied, taking great care to keep his tone respectful.  "How can I learn the art of mating from my own kind if there are no others left?"

     "Do not be foolish.  We youkai may be fewer in number now, but even Naraku could not destroy us all."

     Shippou had his doubts, but knew better than to voice them aloud.  "In any case it may take me years to find another of my kind.  Surely the arts are not so different between my kind and yours?  Not that I would presume to compare us, but there is at least a distant relationship between dogs and foxes --"

     Sesshoumaru's eyes turned very cold.  "Indeed, fox, you should not presume to compare."

     Shippou bowed a third time, his belly clenching.  "My apologies, Lord Sesshoumaru."  He glanced up at Sesshoumaru through his lashes and dared, "I seek only to rid myself of ignorance, my lord."

     A long moment of silence passed, but then Sesshoumaru's eyes half-lidded, some of the coldness fading.  "You continue to amuse me, fox.  But my decision stands."

     _But why?_ Shippou almost asked, but he caught himself in time.  Sesshoumaru had no tolerance for insolent behavior.  But inwardly Shippou seethed.  There was no reason for Sesshoumaru to withhold training in pleasure -- no reason that made any sense, anyhow.  Dogs and foxes weren't that different.  Which suggested that Sesshoumaru's excuse was merely that:  an excuse.  Or worse, an obfuscation of some kind.

     He drew in a breath.  That was it.  But to confront Sesshoumaru with it...  He swallowed.  Nothing to be done but do it and accept the consequences.

     "I see," Shippou said.  He clenched his fists on his hakama, bracing himself.  "You don't know how."

     Sesshoumaru's look of amusement faded.  His face went expressionless and he grew very still.  Then, with the boneless grace of a born predator, Sesshoumaru rose from his lounging position. 

     _I shall meet you soon, Honored Inari,_ Shippou thought faintly.  _I die today._

     "I see an object lesson is in order," Sesshoumaru said, and he blurred. 

     Suddenly Shippou was on his back, tail curled awkwardly beneath him, the breath knocked out of him.  But he hardly dared to fill his aching lungs because Sesshoumaru's face loomed above his, silhouetted by the moonlight.  Only the youkai-lord's eyes -- great, golden, gleaming -- were visible in the shadows.  But Sesshoumaru did not tear out his throat.  Instead, still moving with that slow predator's grace, he leaned down and lapped delicately at Shippou's lips.

     Shippou gasped, eyes widening.  Sesshoumaru's tongue took the opportunity to delve between his lips for just an instant, darting in to touch Shippou's tongue.  Then it withdrew, returning to Shippou's lips to flickflick, flickflick, flickflick.  In the same moment something warm and velvet-soft slid up his leg, parting the folds of his yukata; Sesshoumaru's ruff.  It twined under one thigh and up between Shippou's legs, arching over his mating-parts to tickle his belly, then under his obi and up to his chest.  The tip pressed against his chin, lifting it, and as Shippou -- too stunned to resist -- obeyed, Sesshoumaru shifted his tongue's attentions down, laplapping along the thread of Shippou's pulse.

     _This is the strangest execution I've ever seen,_ Shippou thought giddily, but then Sesshoumaru's sharp teeth nipped his throat and he gasped again in a blend of terror and confusion, the sensation sending shivers through his flesh.  Then Sesshoumaru's tongue returned, soothing away the minimal pain of the nip, and Shippou felt his muscles turn to liquid.  By the time Sesshoumaru moved down, still lapping his way along Shippou's skin while his ruff continued its slow twine, Shippou was panting, his eyes shut, his body a-tingle in ways he'd never before experienced.  It was as if Sesshoumaru meant to overwhelm him with disparate sensations -- the moist torment of his tongue, the occasional warm tickle of his breath, the constant tightening caress of his tail.  His head spun with it all, and when Sesshoumaru's mouth latched onto one nipple -- his tongue going flickflickflickFLICK -- Shippou cried out and clutched at Sesshoumaru's empty left sleeve, back arching as his tail sought to lift in eager mounting-invitation.

     And then suddenly all of it was gone.  Shippou opened his eyes to find Sesshoumaru standing above him, smoothing the fur of his ruff as it returned to its customary position over one shoulder.  He glanced down at Shippou, and Shippou abruptly became aware of the indignity of his position -- limbs gracelessly splayed, yukata open above and below the obi, skin flushed with heat and sweat, mating-organ red and aching for all the world to see.  Quickly he scrambled to his knees and tried to compose himself, which was difficult as his hands shook and his tail would not stop its insistent upward flicking.

     "As you can see, fox," Sesshoumaru said, "the arts of pleasure are not unfamiliar to me."  His voice was cold as a mountaintop.

     Shippou bent to touch his forehead to the floor.  "P-please forgive my insolence, Lord Sesshoumaru."

     "I will consider doing so, though of course it cannot go unpunished.  If you have no appreciation for what I've tried to teach you, then I see no reason to continue our night-lessons."  Giving his tailfur one final grooming stroke, Sesshoumaru sighed.  "You have disturbed my rest enough tonight, fox.  Leave my sight until dawn."

     Shippou obeyed quickly and returned to his room, where he lay trembling beneath his covers for many hours before sleep finally came.

***

     From then on the days went as they had before.  Sesshoumaru seemed to forgive Shippou for his transgression, but there were no more night-lessons.  Shippou felt the loss keenly.  He had never enjoyed the lessons before, but he now understood this was because Sesshoumaru had focused solely on preparing Shippou for the pain of mounting, giving him none of the pleasure.  And now that Shippou had tasted such pleasure, he found himself hungry for more.

     He learned to gratify himself, remembering Sesshoumaru's touch and biting the pillow to stifle his whimpers when the release came, but this served only to hone the hunger's edge.  He sought other outlets for it and remembered watching his father dance by moonlight, beautiful in both fox- and human-form.  Though no one had taught him the technique, he tried dancing anyhow and found to his delight that the movements came instinctively.  He flowed and darted like a river-fish, listened to the wind and swayed with it, looked up at the stars and leapt to reach them.  He never succeeded -- only a nine-tailed fox could do that -- but the attempt alone was enough to satisfy some part of his soul.

     It followed naturally from this that as spring approached, Shippou began to contemplate another seemingly-unattainable goal.

     He gazed at himself in the mirror of Sesshoumaru's koi-pond sometimes, amazed by the changes that a single season had wrought.  Was he the same skinny, filthy fox who once had lived so wretchedly on humanity's fringe?  Perhaps he was, deep down, but he chose to believe instead that the Shippou in the water was the real Shippou who had been hidden beneath the dirt, only needing an appreciative eye and a bit of polish to shine.  The face that gazed back at him from the water was beautiful -- was it not?  Out of habit he still wore the forelocks of a child but the long winter of plenty had changed him in every other way; he was taller and stronger and slimmer, healthy and fine.  He looked at last like his father, who had been the loveliest creature Shippou had ever seen. 

     So why then did Sesshoumaru not desire him?  In the past few weeks Shippou had attempted to signal his willingness to be summoned.  He surreptitiously brushed his tail against the walls of the manor at strategic points, knowing that Sesshoumaru's nose would easily detect the desire in his scent.  He had tried lingering in the corridor outside Sesshoumaru's door once, but Jaken had shooed him away.  Finding a scroll of erotic poems in Sesshoumaru's library -- some of which had made him blush terribly -- he left it unrolled where Sesshoumaru would see it, then arranged himself on the cushions nearby, reading something else.  Sesshoumaru had come into the library, looked annoyed, and walked out.  A moment later Jaken came in to tidy up, putting the scroll away. 

     Shippou pondered the problem for several nights as the winter drew to a close.  Sesshoumaru could not have failed to note Shippou's interest.  Perhaps the lord was still angry over Shippou's insolence -- but no, it would be beneath him to hold a grudge so long over something so trivial.  There would be no more night-lessons, but there was no reason why Sesshoumaru couldn't simply summon Shippou for his own gratification.  Was it Shippou's lack of refinement?  But that had been improving all winter, and even Sesshoumaru had shown satisfaction with Shippou's progress.  Was it that Sesshoumaru preferred the company of other dog-youkai?  That was a given.  But foxes had always been an acceptable substitute mate for even the most high-ranking youkai of every breed.  The favor of a fox was sought-after by all, or so Shippou's father had once told him.  Yet Sesshoumaru, who by right of their bargain could command Shippou's favor whenever he wished, did not.

     Which was simply unacceptable, Shippou decided.  He was a proper fox out of a fine old bloodline, and no fox had ever failed to win a lover who caught his eye.

     So it was to be a hunt.

     How fortunate, Shippou thought to himself with a wicked smile, that Sesshoumaru had taught him to hunt so well.

***

     To begin his hunt, Shippou went to Sesshoumaru and asked leave to return to the outside world for a time.  Sesshoumaru looked at him thoughtfully for a long moment, but then nodded and returned his attention to the poem he was reading.  Jaken led Shippou to the portal, and he passed through.

     After a winter spent hunting minor youkai and mimicking the airs of a haughty lord, humans were barely a challenge.  Shippou impersonated a human noble while the man was out of the house and easily made off with all the money and valuables he could carry.  He took these to a nearby town and sold the goods, then found himself a kimono-maker.  The old man's wife sensed his true nature and stared at him in awe, but the craftmaster saw only Shippou's full purse.  As it would take too long to have a kimono custom-made for himself, Shippou instead bought the loveliest from the kimono-maker's stock.  The kimono-maker agreed to alter it to fit his small stature -- and his tail, which Shippou revealed with a wry smile.  (The kimono-maker, being wise, said only that it was a very fine tail, and would the esteemed customer be needing sandals with that?) 

     Then Shippou went to the kimono-maker's wife and begged her aid.  Her awe faded into the giddiness of a young girl as she taught him about cosmetics and hairstyles -- not that a shapechanging fox needed either, but Shippou was always in search of new ideas.  When he told her he was hoping to catch the eye of a handsome lord, she happily spent the next few days teaching him the tricks of womankind -- the subtle glance, the subtler touch, the proper way to let the kimono display the back of the neck or an ankle.  They had great fun passing the days this way.

     When the kimono alterations were done, Shippou gave the old couple the last of his money as a thank you (which together with the profit they'd made in selling him the kimono would keep them well-fed for months), and returned to Sesshoumaru's realm.

     A week had passed while Shippou acquired the tools for his hunt.  He carried his new kimono with him in a satchel over one shoulder, having worn his old clothes for traveling.  Though the manor looked as always, the aura of the place felt subtly different from when Shippou had been there last.  As he stood on the porch trying to fathom the change, Jaken came out and, to Shippou's amazement, actually looked pleased to see him.  However the old salamander said, "Well, well.  I didn't expect you to return.  Your kind are famous for quick getaways and quicker -- if any -- farewells."

     Shippou smiled, hefting his satchel as he followed Jaken inside.  "I wouldn't have stayed away forever.  I have unfinished business here."

     "And what would that be?" 

     Shippou turned.  Sesshoumaru stood in the room's doorway.  _Beautiful and untouchable as ever,_ Shippou thought, and smiled as he bowed in greeting.  _For now._   Sesshoumaru inclined his head in regal response -- which caused Shippou to double-take.  Had there been a hint of welcome in Sesshoumaru's face for just that instant? 

     Then he remembered Sesshoumaru's question and replied, "I must complete my training, my lord.  You still defeat me every day with the staff, and I can pluck out only the simplest of tunes on the koto."

     "It will be centuries before you are my equal in combat -- if ever."  Sesshoumaru moved over to his table and knelt.  "And I have already warned you that learning to play well will take many years.  Our original bargain was that I would teach you the skills necessary to survive."  His eyes focused on Shippou's satchel for a moment, then his face.  "Obviously, you can now do so."

     _No!  Not yet!_   Controlling his expression, Shippou bowed in thanks at the compliment.  "My magic training is yet incomplete..."

     "You're intelligent enough to finish your own training in this respect.  It is simply a matter of logic and instinct.  To be blunt, you no longer need me as a teacher, fox."  Sesshoumaru nodded toward a book on a nearby shelf; Jaken hastened to fetch it for him.  "However, I understand that my decision may have caught you unprepared.  You may remain a guest in my manor for one more day."

     Immediately Shippou suspected that Sesshoumaru knew what he was up to.  _What then does it mean that he's willing to allow me the time to try?_   He dared not speculate.  Instead he bowed a third time in thanks for Sesshoumaru's generosity, while his mind raced.  He had to move quickly -- but carefully, oh so carefully.  _Tonight.  It must be tonight._

     As he straightened he smiled, though his heart sounded loud in his ears.  "Then if I am no longer your student, can we perhaps dine together tonight, Lord Sesshoumaru?  I do not presume to call myself your equal," he added quickly, "but I have been among humans for a week and I crave the company of a fellow youkai this evening."

     "That would be appropriate," Sesshoumaru replied.  He did not look up from his book, which was fortunate as Shippou could not help flicking his tail in excitement.  "We shall dine promptly at dusk.  Rest and try to wash away the scent of the human lands by then."  He turned a page; the matter was settled.

     Shippou bowed and backed out of the room, delighted that his hastily-improvised plan had fallen into place so smoothly.  Because his eyes were downcast and his thoughts elsewhere, he did not notice Sesshoumaru gazing after him, eyes half-lidded with amusement as Shippou left to prepare.

***

     Jaken was kind enough to prepare Shippou's bath for him, adding a few pieces of aromatic cypress to the water to help erase the stink of the human lands.  While Jaken worked some sort of servant's magic to purify Shippou's room and parcels of the scent, Shippou washed quickly but thoroughly and -- out of respect for Sesshoumaru's nose -- soaked long past the time when he could no longer smell humans on himself.  Then he sprang out, working a quick "wind" spell to dry his fur and nibbling his finger- and toe-claws to make them perfect, and began his preparations.  First the slip and the underkimono.  The outer kimono was a confection of brilliant spring green fading to white at the hems; it matched his eyes, and the pattern of orange butterflies swirling around its lower edge provided a nice counterpoint to the red-gold of his hair.  This one had a matching jacket which continued the butterfly motif on the back and sleeves.  Though it was a man's kimono, he had always found men's obi to be too plain for his tastes, so he wrapped it with an off-white woman's obi whose fabric patterns suggested new leaves.  To this he added a bright gold cord, just because he was a fox and foxes loved shiny things.

     He debated what to do about his hair for some time.  In the end he tied it in a very loose tail wrapped with another gold cord, which he then pulled over one shoulder.  The effect was stylishly scruffy -- casual enough to make Sesshoumaru "tsk" and lull him into a false sense of security, Shippou decided with a grin.  Then he carefully adjusted the kimono and jacket until it hung more loosely on his shoulders, highlighting the long lines of his neck and body.

     At dusk, he opened the door to receive Jaken.  When he saw the old servant smile, Shippou knew he was ready.

     He followed Jaken to the sitting room, where a low round table had been laden with a number of delicious-smelling dishes.  Just beyond the table, the outer doors had been drawn open to let in the fresh night air from the atrium garden.  Sesshoumaru stood amid the garden's fronds, one hand upraised to let the fireflies dance around his clawtips.  He wore a deep-red kimono of heavy patterned cloth; his hair and ruff shone like starlight in contrast.  For a moment Shippou stopped, breathless at the sight.  Then Sesshoumaru turned, regarding Shippou with an equally assessing glance.  Shippou thought he glimpsed appreciation in the lord's impassive face, though that might have only been wishful thinking on his part.

     Sesshoumaru glided across the garden and up onto the porch, coming into the room.  "On time, properly dressed, and..."  He paused, inhaling, and then looked wry.  "...clean.  You have indeed benefitted from my tutelage, fox."

     Shippou blushed and went to the table as gracefully as he could, kneeling when Sesshoumaru did.  "I should express my gratitude, Lord Sesshoumaru.  It shames me that our bargain has not been properly fulfilled.  You've given me so much that I could never repay it all."

     "Repay it by becoming a good fox," Sesshoumaru said.  He took some rice, indicating that Shippou could eat.  Jaken moved to uncover several of the dishes before bowing his way out of the chamber.  "That would entertain me most -- hearing of your exploits in stories and legends, as all good foxes are so immortalized." 

     Shippou smiled in delight at the notion.  "In honor of our bargain, Lord Sesshoumaru, I shall."

     The meal passed in relative quiet, though for Shippou it became a test of all his wiles.  He said nothing while they ate, for it was impolite to distract others from the experience of good food.  Still, there were signals that could be sent without words, and he chose and deployed these with studied care.  He poured wine for Sesshoumaru so that the liquid made almost no sound as it collected in the cup.  When his eyes met Sesshoumaru's he demurely turned away, quickly enough to suggest modesty but lingering for just an instant first.  As the meal drew to a close, he struck up a conversation about a love poem he'd read in Sesshoumaru's library.  Sesshoumaru seemed amused by this, and Shippou himself winced at the clumsiness of the effort, but Sesshoumaru merely called for tea and suggested that Shippou's interpretation of the poem was accurate, if overly simplistic.

     And so it went.  Jaken brought them chilled lychees for dessert, and they retired to the cushions to eat while continuing their discussion.  But Shippou had begun to grow desperate.  It was almost midnight.  He was running out of witty conversation, had already run out of subtle flirtations, and he hadn't yet managed to seduce Sesshoumaru. 

     There was only one thing left to do.

     He drew himself up onto his knees.  "Lord Sesshoumaru."

     Sesshoumaru, sipping from a dish of sake, gave him a mild look of inquiry.  Shippou took a deep breath.

     "I do not ask you to rescind the punishment you imposed on me several months ago," he began, hoping that Sesshoumaru would not smell the sweat that suddenly drenched his palms.  "Though I have learned the error of my ways since, I respect your decision.  Therefore please understand that what I request is not a lesson, but a favor..."  And then, to his horror, his mind was suddenly empty.  He had run out of words.  He could think of half a dozen vulgar solicitations that he'd heard the monk Miroku use, but nothing more eloquent.

     Sesshoumaru flicked the tip of his ruff lazily.  "You desire pleasure of me."

     Shippou froze, his ears growing hot.  "Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru.  That is, if _you_ so desire."

     "Do not be foolish, fox.  I have desired nothing else for some while now."

     Someone had pulled the tatami away from beneath his knees, and the floor with it.  Through this daze Shippou said, "You... you have?"

     Sesshoumaru sighed and set down his dish.  "There was no challenge in taking a virgin fox," he said.  "Nor in receiving favors offered as payment by such a humble, wretched creature as you once were.  While others might have no objection to either scenario, I am Sesshoumaru."  He unwound his ruff and sat up, brushing minute wrinkles from his kimono.  "Moreover, if I simply took you, you would learn only how to be chattel.  Instead you have learned to dance, to move with grace and allure, to display your beauty to its full advantage, and to weave all the foxish magics of seduction.  As survival skills, all of these things will serve you well.  But most importantly for my own interests, you have grown in desire.  Your scent is rich with it lately.  This pleases me."

     "Then..."  Shippou frowned.  "Why have you not summoned me to your bed before now?"

     Sesshoumaru's golden eyes were as sly and satisfied as a cat's, though Shippou would never have doomed himself by making such an observation out loud.  "You promised me entertainment," Sesshoumaru said.  "Your efforts to entice me have been most enjoyable to watch."

     Shippou felt faint.  "Happy to oblige," he said weakly.

     "You shall oblige me in many things before the night is done, fox."  Sesshoumaru smiled suddenly, which shocked Shippou even further.  He had never seen Sesshoumaru smile outside of battle or the hunt.  And abruptly he became aware that something had changed in Sesshoumaru's winter-ice scent in the past few moments.  Now the scent was underlaid by something stronger, more fierce.  Something _molten_.

     An instant later Shippou was half-sprawled over the tea-table, pinned down by weight and sharp teeth gripping the back of his neck.  He yipped and went limp in instinctive submission, and after a moment the teeth released him.  They were replaced by a tongue which lapped the sting away in warm, moist strokes.  Each one sent a quicksilver shiver down Shippou's spine.  Before he could react Sesshoumaru lifted him off the table, pulling Shippou back against himself so swiftly that the movement left him dizzy and gasping for breath.  He gasped again for a different reason when Sesshoumaru's tongue explored the rim of his ear, pausing to flick once at its tip.  He was not aware that his kimono hung loose and half-open around his shoulders until Sesshoumaru's hand slid over the bare skin of his chest.  When that hand paused to toy idly with one nipple he choked back a moan, thinking that he had never felt anything so exquisite in his life.

     "That pleases you, fox?"  Sesshoumaru's voice was a low growl in his ear.  "So simple a thing?  Let me show you something more."

     Another dizzying spin and Shippou was on his back amid the cushions, wondering with one small fragment of his mind how his kimono had gotten rucked up around his hips in such an undignified manner.  But then the thick white ruff that had wrapped itself around his body tightened, bending him almost double as it lifted his hips into the air.  And then he lost the ability to think as Sesshoumaru's mouth gently began to explore the modest length of his mating-organ.  It was like fire and water shooting through his veins; there was lightning and smoke in his belly.  He dangled helpless and whimpering in the grip of Sesshoumaru's winding ruff as the youkai lord devoured him with slow relish.

     Through a white haze he heard Sesshoumaru's voice.  "Jaken.  Bring the oil."

     The sound of a sliding door.  "I have it here, Lord Sesshoumaru."  The soft pad of feet.

     "Am I so predictable, Jaken?"

     "Never, my lord.  But the fox is another matter."

     Sesshoumaru's snort of amusement tickled Shippou's fur, sending another shiver through him.  When Sesshoumaru's tail lowered him onto the cushions and released him, Shippou twisted about onto his belly and drew up his knees, though he did not present himself for mounting.  Not in the presence of a servant.  He had just enough self-control left for that. 

     "Is he not lovely, Jaken?"  Sesshoumaru's fingers touched the tumbled mass of Shippou's hair, then slid down his spine, reminding him powerfully of the night Sesshoumaru had first initiated him into the mysteries of mating.  He trembled at both the memory and the touch.  "Have I not wrought a work of art in him?  Remember the low creature he was once.  Now he will break the hearts of kings." 

     Sesshoumaru's fingertips dipped into the depression at the small of his back, then grazed the sensitive flesh at the base of his tail.  Though Shippou managed to fight the reflex and keep his hips down, he tossed his head back and keened aloud, unable to express his desperation and need any other way.

     Sesshoumaru's hand paused, and the air thickened with the scent of lust.  "Leave us now, Jaken."

     "Yes, my lord."  The feet padded away, the door slid closed, and Sesshoumaru's weight covered Shippou's back, radiating heat like a furnace.

     "Let me in, fox."  Sesshoumaru's voice was husky and soft in his ear.  How could Shippou refuse?  With a hungry, glad cry he raised himself and moved his tail aside and arched his back, treading the cushions in his eagerness.  The warm, oiled solidity of Sesshoumaru felt like a long-lost friend when it slid inside him.  Sesshoumaru's teeth closed on the back of his neck again, just shy of breaking the skin, and the lord's thick white ruff looped itself firmly under his waist to hold him in position.

     The slow, steady flex of Sesshoumaru's body caught Shippou by surprise.  He had expected the brisk, perfunctory thrusts of his training -- in and out, slap slap slap.  This was a rocking slide, a pulse; not so much a sensation of movement as of being gripped and released, filled and emptied.  And the pleasure that it invoked within him was wholly new, thrumming deep into his vitals, throbbing through the core of him out to to the very tips of his claws.  He whimpered louder, putting his head down on the cushions to stop it from spinning.  Without his conscious thought his body arched more, offering itself to the source of pleasure, and he set his claws into the tatami to brace himself against Sesshoumaru's gentle strength. 

     Was this Sesshoumaru upon him?  Was this the cold, aloof lord of the western lands heating the very air with the scent of wanting?  Was this the secret of mating that had been hidden from him for so long?  It was glorious, Shippou thought, in the tiny portion of his mind still capable.  _Glorious._

     The teeth released his neck; warm breath gusted over his ear, rhythmic as Sesshoumaru moved in him.  "So many others shall have you, fox," Sesshoumaru breathed, and Shippou would have melted at the passion in the lord's voice if he hadn't already been helpless.  "But when all those others rut upon you, it is my touch you will compare them to.  My body you will remember most.  I have shown you the way.  You are mine now, and some part of you shall be always."

     Then Sesshoumaru uttered a low, ripping snarl and sank his teeth into Shippou's flesh at the juncture of his neck and shoulder.  Shippou cried out but forgot the pain when Sesshoumaru's ruff tightened around him, lifting him even higher before the lord began driving into him in staccato thrusts, growing ever faster with urgency.  Shippou's very bones vibrated; his heart soared.  And when Sesshoumaru's hand settled around his mating-organ to work it in a firm massage, Shippou began to wonder:  could one die of pleasure?

     His body answered at once with an ingathering of tension:  yes.  Ten thousand times yes.  And then the tension burst and he threw his head back and sang his first true foxsong to the universe, and the universe answered him with ecstasy.

     When the white light faded he became aware of a trembling stillness.  Then Sesshoumaru released his neck and shoved him forward so forcefully that he fell onto his belly; Sesshoumaru's weight shifted them to the side.  Still dazed, he twisted about to see that Sesshoumaru lay absolutely rigid, his face frozen in a most uncharacteristic expression -- somewhere between agony and transcendant delight.

     "Be... still," Sesshoumaru whispered.  He closed his golden eyes, shuddering minutely, his breath coming in quick gasps.  His tail and arm were tight around Shippou, holding him firmly in place, but Shippou found he could not move anyhow.  There was a heavy, solid fullness in his nether regions, quite unlike the usual feel of things.  He tried to pull his hips forward so that Sesshoumaru would slide free and gasped at the flash of pain when neither happened; he could not move, and Sesshoumaru was sealed firmly within him.

     Sesshoumaru growled softly.  "I said, _do not move,_ " he gritted through his teeth.  His eyes opened in slits; the pupils had grown to black pits ringed only thinly by gold.  "This... will pass... by dawn."  And he buried his face in Shippou's hair, gasping as another of those tiny shudders racked his body.

     Of course, Shippou realized in sudden rueful understanding.  Dogs and foxes.  Differences.  But what among foxes occurred only when making kits, apparently happened in dogs every time.

     No matter.  This would only bind Sesshoumaru to him more firmly.  Sighing and purring in contentment, Shippou relaxed to await the long completion of Sesshoumaru's pleasure, and the coming of dawn.

***

     In the morning Shippou availed himself for the last time of Sesshoumaru's hospitality, soaking in the bath and then enjoying a light breakfast of venison and peaches in his room.  Afterward, with some sadness in his heart, he gathered his meager belongings to leave.  But when he came downstairs and stepped out onto the porch, he stopped in surprise at the sight of Sesshoumaru and Jaken waiting in the courtyard.  Jaken carried a number of small parcels tied with a leather strap, as if for travel.

     Frowning in puzzlement, Shippou stopped before them and bowed.  "My lord Sesshoumaru.  I was coming to take my leave of you just now."

     "Of course," said Sesshoumaru.  "Jaken."  Jaken stepped forward and bowed to present Shippou with the parcels.  Blinking, Shippou accepted them and tugged loose the flap on one of the parcels.  Inside was a folded length of Makai silk, which would adapt its shape to his will and form any garment he could imagine.  Stunned, he opened another and found it full of pearls. 

     Shippou caught his breath and looked up.  "You have given me knowledge and hospitality and favor beyond my wildest dreams, my lord, and now you give me these?  I can accept nothing else from you!"

     Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed.  "You would refuse my gifts?"

     Shippou winced.  A wise fox knew when to yield.  "...I suppose not."  He bowed deeply in thanks.  When he'd secured them over his shoulder, Sesshoumaru turned to walk with him down the path to the portal.

     "The gifts are appropriate," Sesshoumaru said.  "A fox such as yourself should expect nothing less of your paramours."

     "Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru."

     "You will, of course, remember to practice your fingering every day.  You may not be able to take the koto with you, but that's no reason to let your skills atrophy."

     "Every day, Lord Sesshoumaru."

     "And I expect you to last more than five minutes when next we spar."

     "I shall forever honor the knowledge you've shared with me, Lord Sesshoumaru."

     They had reached the portal; here they stopped.  Jaken hung back near the house.  Sesshoumaru turned to him, expression cool.

     "Though your training here is done, you are always welcome to return," the youkai lord said softly, and then paused.  "Indeed, you may stay now if you wish, for as long as you please."

     Knowing what those words must have cost Sesshoumaru, Shippou lowered his eyes demurely.  "I am a fox, my lord," he said.  "We are not easily domesticated.  Besides -- "  He looked up at Sesshoumaru through his lashes and flashed a smile.  "If I were underfoot too much, I fear you would grow bored with me."

     Sesshoumaru's eyes warmed.  "Hmmph.  You may gain wisdom yet, fox."  Then, to Shippou's shock, Sesshoumaru lifted his chin with gentle fingers.  "But even a fox needs a den from time to time."

     A great surge of affection welled in Shippou's heart.  For a moment he recalled their meeting back in autumn, when Sesshoumaru had touched him the same way and Shippou had thought only of the poison in those claws.  Now he thought only of caresses, and marveled that so much had changed. 

     "From time to time," he agreed, and for the second time Sesshoumaru smiled.

     Then he stepped back, nodding toward the portal.  "Remember our agreement, fox.  I expect to hear tales about you within a century."

     "My lord Sesshoumaru, you shall hear them within a _decade._   And I promise they shall be tales of the greatest fox the world has ever known."

     "But of course," Sesshoumaru said, with a haughty sniff.  "I trained you."

     Shippou grinned and bowed once more.  "Farewell, Lord Sesshoumaru."

     "Farewell, Shippou."  And before Shippou registered that Sesshoumaru had used his name for the first time in their acquaintance, Sesshoumaru had turned away to walk back toward the house.

     After a long moment, Shippou turned in the opposite direction, and went through the portal to make his way in the world.


End file.
